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King Edward Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom reopens after 38 years

And slowly Torontonians began to forget what the Crystal Ballroom in the Omni King Edward Hotel looked like, except for the occasional bride allowed in to take photographs, or the handful of fly fishermen who practiced casting from the balcony.

But on Wednesday the ballroom in Toronto’s first luxury hotel, which once played host to Toronto’s elite, opened its doors to the public once more.

It first opened almost 100 years ago, in 1922; the hotel itself opened in 1903. The 5,000-square-foot space hosted a variety of events, from a state dinner with British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Prince of Wales in August 1927, to performances from some of the great musicians and orchestras of the 1920s to 1940s, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.

But that ended in 1979, according to Christophe Le Chatton, the hotel’s general manager, because the room, which sits on the 17th floor, did not measure up to current city codes. And after some time, it fell into disrepair.

“The room always looked phenomenal. It was not stripped of the details,” Le Chatton said. “It just looked tired.”

That’s not to say the ballroom was completely empty for the past few decades. Le Chatton said brides regularly asked to have their photos taken in the room, and Drake had pictures for a magazine spread done in the space.

“A lot of people used it to film some movie scenes or have photo shoots,” Le Chatton said.

Fly fishing classes were even briefly offered in the ballroom, since it was the only space big enough to accommodate the sport, with fishing lines cast from the balcony.

But the vast majority of the time, the ballroom remained empty. Now, after having undergone $6.5 million in renovations, it will once again be open for events.

The corporate office of Omni Hotels & Resorts, which owns the King Edward, and Toronto design firm Moncur Design Associates collaborated to make numerous changes. The ballroom’s kitchen was moved from the 18th to the 17th floor, carpet and curtains were added, a bar was added to the pre-function space, and a plaster restoration specialist who focuses on older buildings was brought in to restore the wood carvings.

Revitalizing the room has been “the talk of the town, especially in the hotel world, for many years,” according to Le Chatton.

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The ballroom, which can accommodate roughly 330 guests, has floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing southeast views of Toronto, 8-metre high coffered ceilings, and intricate wood stencilling along the top border of its walls. Three modern chandeliers now hang where “oversized crystal chandeliers” once were, but which were lost over the years, and a balcony that can hold 60 overlooks the entire space.

“We wanted to ensure that we would keep all of the grandeur of the room. The traditional aspect of the architecture, we did not touch that too much but really just gave it a fresh look,” Le Chatton said. “It feels new and yet the design is very 30s. So that was the intent there.”

The space has already been booked at least once every month until 2018. The “base price” to book an evening event in the ballroom is $50,000, Le Chatton said, which can vary depending on the time of day and any add-ons one might want for their event. More than 15 of the booked occasions will be weddings, the first of which is set for Saturday.

“What is amazing is every single bride that we’ve brought here that came looking for the space, most of them have signed up for it,” Le Chatton said. “The response has been tremendous.”

The ballroom’s renovations come on the heels of a larger $40-million makeover of the entire King Edward Hotel, which wrapped up in 2015.

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